Another long weekend well spent... in London! Daniel & I had both been to London before, but it had been a while for both of us. Daniel lived in England when he was younger for a few years and I had the opportunity to go about 7 years ago with my senior class during a lay-over on our way to Uganda.
London was as stereotypically wonderful as I expected. We made it to all the major sites and a few off the wall places here and there. We rode the tube, sipped tea, took a few selfies, ate fish n' chips (twice), gawked at the big double decker buses, and did a lot of walking.
Since we flew in Friday night we were able to go straight to our hotel and get a good night's sleep before tackling the city and all its wondrous sites. Navigating the tube, we made our way to Tower Hill to visit the Tower of London and marvel at the Crown Jewels.
The King's royal bed chamber.
View of Tower Bridge from the Tower of London.
The Crown Jewel Exhibit.
From the Tower Bridge area, we hopped on a "City Cruise" from Tower Pier to Westminster Pier. Along the way we saw some of London's major sites including a nice view of London Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, the Eye of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Bridge & many others that presently escape my memory.
Shakespeare's Globe
The London Eye
Stepping off we quickly recognized the famous area we had entered.
Big Ben
The House of Parliament
The wind did not do us any favors. This was the picture with the least amount of hair blowing in my face. Adds to the effect, right? ...Even though I still don't own a "selfie-stick", Daniel and I managed to snap a few selfies with the famous clock. I'd like you to notice I even managed to get a red double decker bus in the picture. Nailed it.
From Westminster Bridge , Westminster Abbey was only a short, very scenic , very tourist filled walk away.
Realizing it was lunch time & neither of us had eaten anything since our coffee & muffins from the morning, we made a bee line for the closest restaurant serving up fish n' chips (not a hard thing to come by in London). Refueled and ready to continue, we paid for our meals & headed back out into the windy streets of London.
Daniel and I both agreed that walking through Westminster Abbey was one of the coolest experiences of our trip. Listing to the audio tour, it was absolutely jaw dropping to walk into room after room where so many historical figures were burried and realize how many royal weddings and coronations had taken place within the wall where we stood. We were (understandably) not allowed to take any picture in the Abbey, but here are a few I snapped of the exterior.
The final item on our agenda for day one was the Churchill War Rooms. Close to Westminster Abbey, and across the Park from Buckingham Palace, the War Rooms were one of the most well done "war museums" I've ever been to. It was again, humbling to walk through the very rooms from which Churchill and his team helped direct the course of the War. The audio guide was excellent. Detailed without being too wordy. Usually with audio tours I tend to pick and choose which numbers I actually press and listen to, but with this tour I found myself intently listing to each and every number. After touring the actual "War Rooms" we had the opportunity to go through the museum. Filled with letters, articles of clothing and many many other items from the times, it was a very engaging and educational experience.
Okay so if you are still reading, you see what a long, jammed packed day we had. At this point, we were pretty pooped and opted to call it a day. We hopped back on the tube and zipped over to our hotel to freshen up and make dinner plans. Stay posted for the second half of our weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment